


In which Xiang is bored (until he very much isn't)

by Anhamirak



Category: xXx (Movies), xXx: Return of Xander Cage
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Multi, Swearing, Xander Cage/Serena Unger (mentioned), pre-Xander Cage/Xiang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 15:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10389426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anhamirak/pseuds/Anhamirak
Summary: Xiang's POV on Xander, from when Xander gets to the Philippines to the end of the movie.(minor deviations from canon at points where I think canon didn't make sense)





	1. Hook

**Author's Note:**

> Er. My brain did a thing and fic fell out? Seriously this is my first fic ever and the first non-academic writing I've done in years. I have no idea how it happened. Unbetad and posted more or less the second I finished it because if I don't do it now I'm going to lose my nerve.
> 
> There's not a lot of fic in this fandom, but what little there is seems to focus on why Xander is into Xiang. Which makes perfect sense because Xiang is all kinds of awesome, but I wanted to explore the other side of that. Doing this without referring to Xiang by name was an absolute pain in the ass but consensus seems to be that's either his family name or a fake, so it's unlikely "Xiang" is what he would call himself in his own head.

A group just landed. They were permitted on the island. The usual types, possibly somewhat more skilled than the average local partygoer, but still. Mercenaries, fighters, wild ones forever looking for something to rebel against. Plenty of reasons for people such as them to seek out places such as this. Except their leader.

"He's not here to hide. He's here to hunt," Serena had said.

She's young, still naïve enough to think she can change the world. But her instincts are good. In this, her words are as reliable as his own.

The man is easy to spot. Relaxed and watchful, clearly well practiced but his surveillance technique doesn't quite match with formal training. He's rougher around the edges than most intelligence organizations prefer in their agents and he blends in a little too well with this crowd. Recruited later in life, then, probably as an alternative to more severe consequences for whatever he did before intelligence snatched him up. He'll be more creative than the average mook. It won't help him against Triple X. Tag, shiv, get back to waiting for their next hunter to show up while the man's corpse feeds the local wildlife.

But then, a surprise. The man looks up at him, smirks, and keeps looking. No attempt to hide why he's here. A direct challenge. This just might be interesting. Send Talon, see what happens.

What happens is one of the hunter’s friends turns out to be a rather good DJ. He feels himself start to smile, even as he makes a mental note to have a talk with Talon about navigating crowds. This is definitely interesting. Perhaps this evening will even turn out to be _fun_.

Serena is, as usual with a male target, more successful at pinning their quarry in place. This is unsurprising. What _is_ surprising is that this particular target is pretending to be far more distracted by her admittedly stunning looks than is actually the case. The man is playing the game, but his eyes stay razor sharp and he’s not checking her out so much as checking her for weapons. His reaction to her list of agencies is amusement, so he’s none of the above. Perhaps he fancies himself to be separate from the list of acronyms that run the world? What he definitely _is_ : intelligent, fast, cocksure, and quite a good flirt with both women and danger. He and Serena appear to have reached a stalemate. Time to step in.

New puzzle pieces. A juvenile sense of humor (though the point about his shirt is fair enough, he bought it specifically because of how hideous it is). His accent marks him as American but his knowledge of Tagalog separates him from the stereotypes associated with the nationality. He laughs in response to being outnumbered and threatened. He hands back Serena’s gun with his own knife still at his throat. He lies loudly and boldly while knowing full well neither of his targets are buying it. He’s either reckless, or exactly as dangerous as he thinks he is.

Time for a proper conversation. With alcohol. He is now well and truly curious about their surprisingly amiable hunter.

The shitty lights from the area that passes for a dancefloor part the night for a moment and illuminate the back of the man’s neck.

He’s been in the game too long to freeze. But when he feels Serena’s eyes on the side of his face he can’t resist the urge to look back into her (sloppy, he must spend more time with her on facial expressions) widened eyes.

The puzzle pieces fall together to form Xander Cage.

Of course. When threatened by copies of the NSA’s most dangerous wild card, send in the original to round them up. This could get messy. If Gibbons is to be believed, and, dramatic tendencies aside, Gibbons is not the type for either under- or overstatements, then Cage actually _is_ every bit as dangerous as he thinks he is. He’s also been playing dead for a decade, so what is he doing here, now? The NSA must have dragged him out of retirement, but why would he go back to working for them?

Start with what you know. Gibbons was very clear on Cage’s intense dislike of anything resembling authority, so he’s not here _just_ because it’s where the NSA wants him. Could be he wants Pandora’s Box for himself, but the man is also, in Gibbons’s words, “not a real big picture kinda guy.” Pandora’s Box is a big picture sort of thing. Cage does things for personal reasons. For the thrill of it, or… Gibbons talked of him as a friend. In so far as people in their line of work ever consider others in the same line to be friends. The NSA must have dangled Gibbons’s death as bait. But how did they work that angle to get Cage to hunt his own successors?

Get him talking. It’s unlikely the NSA gave Cage the full picture, so what _does_ he have?

Fates preserve him from working with baby agents. Serena is going to get herself, not to mention a lot of other people, killed if she doesn’t learn, and learn quickly, that the war the world’s powers fight in the shadows is eternal. Destroying one device is going to chance precisely nothing. Using it could change _everything_. Tip the fight in the favor of those who actually want to _save_ lives for a change. But Serena still wants to believe she can take down the system. Very well. Three agendas and one device. Time to play a game.

Cards on the table. This is who I am. Now tell me, who is Xander Cage, really?


	2. Line

Xander Cage, it turns out, is an exercise in wasted potential. He very blatantly does not consume the drink he ordered, he’s now flirting with both of his opponents in this little three-way, and somewhere between the shadows and the table he’s realized that he’s among fellow Triple Xs. He understands full well that there’s more going on than he knows, but it seems that he can’t be bothered to care. He also really does intend to give Pandora’s Box back to the suits that sent him in like a dog playing fetch.

Cage might be fun, and he’s definitely competent, but he’s painfully short-sighted. He and Serena will get along. After they deal with whoever is in those helicopters. It’s time to leave.

Cage knows his way around a bike. This is unsurprising. Cage is reckless. Also unsurprising.

Cage manages to grab Pandora’s Box.

Open cache. Grab phone. The second contact on his list knows which plane belongs to the NSA. One text to Talon and the bugs and trackers are as good as planted already. Hawk will be at meeting point 2.

Hawk will never be good at giving reports. His teammate is forever emotional and prone to getting sidetracked by which individuals were doing what. Right now, specifically, he’s pissed about Serena and wasting energy on holding back what will surely be a lengthy tirade on the subject. But years of working with someone teach you how to look for the important things in what they’re saying.

Another satellite came down. So all this shit was over a fucking prototype. The real Pandora’s Box? Who knows where. Put out some feelers. Either they or the NSA will track down the real thing. If it’s the NSA, well, Talon is very good at his job. His team will barely be half a step behind. Ultimately they’ll get there first.

Cage talked Serena into joining his team. Unsurprising. Cage knows his way around a fight. Also unsurprising.

The Russians died in the order Cage specified. Neither Cage nor the DJ did the killing. The third man stayed on the boat. That leaves the woman with the backpack who was definitely not anywhere near the party, and one conclusion.

Cage had a sniper on them the entire time.


	3. Sinker

Talon is very good at his job.

So. Cage didn’t know he was hunting Triple X. Cage is not nearly as uninterested in the big picture as he proclaims. Cage is also convinced the NSA are the good guys in this. A pity. There are few people in this world on his level, and it seems that Xander Cage is one of them. The two of them could’ve had a lot of fun together (of both the clothed and unclothed varieties, Cage was quick enough to flirt with him and that level of cool confidence in one’s sexual prowess is usually well-earned). But evidently they are to be rivals. Truly a pity. Still fun.

Becky lives up to every word of praise Gibbons ever heaped on her name. From a 20-mile radius to a specific room within half an hour of hitting the ground. It’ll be a race, but their starting point is closer to the target than Cage’s team. They’ll get there first.

On foot. Apparently. Very well, Hawk and Talon know what they’re doing. It’s been a while since he’s done a bit of good old-fashioned freeway running.

There is a thud and the honk of a horn behind him. Cage. Of course. Well, foot chases are the most fun kind.

Cage is good. But in unarmed combat there are perhaps three people on this planet who can challenge him, and Cage is not among them. It’s an easy win. Until he forgets to account for the _fucking cars_.

He’s still alive. He has to laugh at the improbable, _thrilling_ madness of it all. When he looks up the first thing he sees is the same laugh on Xander’s face and in Xander’s eyes. And he sees that Xander sees it too.

The chase continues. Xander keeps up. Then he pulls ahead.

Stairwells are always a challenge no matter which side of them you’re on. Lives depend on them getting to the top. They fall into sync.


	4. Release

One last attempt to talk Xander around. He doesn’t want to fight. Or, well, by now he really, _really_ does, but under very different circumstances and with considerably less clothing on both of them. It’ll be a series of orgasms for the history books.

The Director gone mad interrupts rather rudely. The sniper takes care of it. It seems Xander really was doing all of this for Gibbons, good to know he hasn’t completely lost his ability to gauge people.

He looks at Xander. Xander looks at him. Xander hesitates.

_Fuck the NSA._

Better to live to fight another day if another day you might win. It’s a mentality he developed long before Gibbons came along and he sees no reason to give it up now. He can absolutely win against these idiots another day. Right now he lets them cuff him.

Xander’s hesitation is slowly blooming into rebellion.

The plane is absolutely ridiculous. No wonder the US is trillions of dollars in debt. They only cuff his hands. He can’t decide if he’s amused or deeply offended.

Xander is marching onto the plane like he’s made a choice. This should be interesting.

Whoever Marke is on the phone with beats Xander to it. Marke shoots Xander.

The impacts don’t sound right. Body armor. At this range with that gun there should be exit wounds in Xander’s back. Definitely body armor. Time to sell the show before Marke decides to follow protocol and finish with a bullet to Xander’s head, which is definitely not protected. She loves gloating. She’ll like watching him panic.

It works beautifully. They sync back up.

A plane full of trained combatants and the one suit on board takes him out. It’s _humiliating_. Then he spots the parachute. He always did love a good one-liner.

Grabbing a 10x20cm box and getting a parachute on and released in freefall is basically what he does for a living every other day.

He and Xander are two of a kind, but Xander does not see the world as he does. Xander likes to think he exists outside the system. Xander and Serena get along exactly as well as predicted. Nobody who’s ever worked with him will believe he got off that plane in one piece without also grabbing the box. Time to dial 9.

Nearly getting blown to bits didn’t slow Gibbons down in the slightest.

They’re idealists, his former teammate and this man who both reflects and challenges him. They have their sharp edges, but ultimately they believe the world can be a good place. They’ll be happy in that belief, and in each other, for however long it lasts.

Lying to people he likes is unfortunate. He never would’ve made it past thirty if he wasn’t good at it.


End file.
